{Daffodils in a Vase on a Dark Day...}

On March 5, it was very dark and dreary looking... Not a good day for taking photos but I had to, as our lovely Daffodils already started drying up in their Mason's Patent Ironstone Mandalay Vase... I did wait for a better opportunity but it did not happen this year and the daffodils are almost gone by now. So this is what I can show you here:

Using our Mason's Patent Ironstone Mandalay Chartreuse Vase.

Placemat is French Le Jacquard Français

Tiggy-Tiger is a sad cat-girl on this dreary and dark day... They love sunshine as much as I do!

Her sister (by adoption) Spicy, is outside next to the tree.

Daffodils in fact are paper-thin flowers and they do dry out rather easy when the air-conditioning is running for heating the home.

Our Heirloom Daffodils we all selected because of their fragrance...

At least our garden did yield some lovely fragrant daffodils this year!

Do you have any at your place and could you fill up a vase?

Related link:

MASON'S PATENT IRONSTONE 'MANDALAY' 20th CENTURY | Christie's

{Fragrant Paperwhite Narcissus flowers in early December} | previous post by me with MASON'S

{Our Garden's Winter Blooms for Christmas} | previous post by me with MASON'S

{Enjoy some Fig Cake with Tea Jelly!} | previous post by me with MASON'S 

{TIP New Purpose for Cigarette Holder} | previous post by me with MASON'S 

{Wishing YOU a Happy 4th Advent 2012!} | previous post by me with MASON'S

{Our Nativity & Angels from Italy} | previous post by me with MASON'S 

{USEFUL TIP: Peppermint Tea for Anti Bloating} | previous post by me with MASON'S
{Fragrant Double Narcissus Obdam} | previous post by me showing MASON'S

{Antique French Gilt Metal & Glass Biscuit Box with Handle}

On the French eBay I did come across this beautiful Antique French Gilt Metal & Glass Biscuit Box with Handle. The only problem was that one side of the handle had a missing threaded rivet... When I asked my husband if he could repair that, he said yes I can. So off I went and bid on it but the person was NOT willing to ship it to the USA. Well, I asked friend Janny from Rozen van Papier (Paper Roses) if she could help me out. She graciously did so and that's how I ended up being in possession of this antique French Biscuit Box. Only at Christie's I did find something similar: A VICTORIAN GILT METAL BISCUIT BARREL AND COVER WITH CUT-GLASS LINER, LATE 19TH CENTURY... Have a look at ours below, it is the same size as the one at Christie's above but not as valuable. But this is now our treasure!

Would you not have fallen in love with it?

One of those threaded rivets on the side of the handle was missing...

So what did I do to find a matching one?

Husband Pieter took the two off from the glass lid and replaced the one missing on the handle with one of them.

Than I went on line for finding two new ones for putting on the glass lid again.

Guess what? I ended up at Restoration Supply Company in Escondido, California where I ordered my two round threaded rivets and nut hex! 

We received excellent service from Miss Brandi K. Gay!

To the right is Brandi K. Gray.

A very caring company with OUTSTANDING customer service!

So refreshing to learn that such high courtesy companies still exist...

Somebody had tried to glue them to the glass top...

Tricky for removing all that gunk without damaging but Pieter managed to do so.

On top of the lid are the two new round threaded rivets with their matching hex nut that Pieter did saw to fit.

This Gilt Metal & Glass Biscuit Box measures 18.5 cm x 12 cm and 11 cm high or 7.3 inches long and 4.7 inch wide and 4.3 inch high. Quite a size and I filled it up with home baked Amaretti cookies made from almond meal.

Quite lovely or not?

What a history this biscuit box has had... wish it could speak!

So glad it arrived here safely in one piece; all the way from France.

Love those ball feet! Very nice beveled corners too.

If you like to sit down for a while, I will make you a tea or coffee to go with these Amaretti cookies.

ENJOY!

{Merry Christmas to all my 193 Countries reading my humble blog! PEACE to ALL!}

During this very hectic time of the year I do want to extend a Merry Christmas to all 193 Countries reading my humble blog. May PEACE be with you ALL!

Beautiful pillow that I won in 2010 from +Rebecca Nelson from A Gathering Place.

Paperwhites are always blooming in our garden around Christmas.
Candle is from Point A La Ligne 

Merry Christmas

Feliz Navidad

Joyeux Noel

Frohe Weihnachten

Buon Natale

Very special Our Mouth Blown Glass Nativity set on our silk brocade table cloth...

Our Nativity scene with Angels from Italy

Related link:

For the Pope, Jesus was born 7 BC | Interesting historical facts

Pour le Pape, Jésus est né 7 ans avant J.C | for the above in original French language
{Silk Brocade for our PRINCE OF PEACE} previous post by me

{Silk Embroidered Birds from China Trip} previous post by me

{MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010} previous post by me about A Gathering Place's pillow from above

Christie's Mandalay by Masons showing you the Mandalay by Mason, as is my vase above...

{Our Nativity & Angels from Italy}| previous post by me

{Wishing YOU a Happy 4th Advent 2013!}

However short, we can light candle #4 for a couple of days before we reach our Christmas day...

Wishing YOU a Happy 4th Advent 2013!

Wishing you all a meaningful time leading up to Christmas 2013!

Christie's Mandalay by Masons | 

{VINTAGE 800 SILVER REPOUSSE PLAQUE - MADONNA with CHILD}

Very timely for the coming Christmas season, I do have for sale this beautiful VINTAGE 800 SILVER REPOUSSÉ PLAQUE - MADONNA with CHILD.

You can find this at my Zen Cart powered on line Boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics

VINTAGE 800 SILVER REPOUSSE PLAQUE - MADONNA with CHILD 

The Vintage patina I leave for the new owner to decide...

It comes with this red velvet ribbon loop for hanging.

I did search at Christie's Auctions but unfortunately the only one I found did not show a picture...

AN ITALIAN REPOUSSÉ PLAQUE DEPICTING THE MADONNA AND CHILD

just click above link for reading...

It is a beautiful 4" round REPOUSSÉ PLAQUE...

The Makers Mark with 800 is visible to the left of the CHILD.

Also the back does show the same Makers Mark.

If anyone would know more about this particular Silver Mark, please let me know!

Sold out...

{Identifying Silver Grape Scissors from Sweden}

Yesterday I did show in my post the tiny, sweet Champagne grapes with silver Grape Scissors in a Rose Pattern. They also are often called Grape Shears.  

Mind you, they are actually not THAT large.

Do you see to the left where a space is cut out for placing the grapes' stem?

That way you easily can snip off a section of a larger bunch of grapes.

One person in her comment asked: 'How do you know the Scissor is meant for grapes?' This was Marianne from the blog: BiebKriebels or Library Jitters, if I translate this from Dutch. So as promised I will get back to the subject.

I learned that I made a spelling error myself, as scissor should be written in plural as scissors.

On my blog post, I've corrected that but in the URL it still shows as scissor.

English is NOT my mother tongue and overall, I guess that my English will be better than your Dutch...

Now let's look at the meaning of this silver TABLE SERVING or DESSERT SERVING piece.

In my book: FORKS KNIVES & SPOONS by Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold I found a nice mention of the silver grape shears. Read more about this Manhattan Design Guru below post...

At the bottom left you can read: One of life's little niceties -- sterling silver grape shears.

From one of Christie's auctions you can find above: A VICTORIAN SILVER-GILT DESSERT SERVICE

Just click the above hyperlink to go to the actual page.

 It shows dessert pieces like forks, knives, spoons, cheese knives, and one pair of grape scissors.

Again from Christie's: A GEORGE III SILVER-GILT DESSERT-SERVICE

just click on above hyperlink

Now, how did I identify my silver grape scissors as being from Sweden?

You can read here: the Maker's Mark:GRWR - City Stamp: M - 3 crowns and an S for Silver and Date Letter: R9

So what does this tell us?

On page 142, of The Book: Rosen-Bestecke (Rose Flatware) by Johanna Gehrlein from Silber-und-Rosen-Shop I found the marking from Sweden in the form of 3 crowns (seen in Abb. 2).

Johanna is a dear friend and her hardcover book with excellent photographs has proven to be invaluable!

Sure enough the Swedish Mark with 3 crowns and the S for silver is still being used.

Just click and scroll from link above.

The letter M I found here: Swedish Hallmarks and City Stamps and it stands for the city of Malmö in Sweden.

And my Silver Grape Scissors from Malmö in Sweden were made in 1967 according to the R9 hallmark...

This table you find from the very same link in the above City Stamps, just scroll down.

Hope this did answer Marianne's question!

Related links:
{Table Setting versus Table Scape} | previous post by me
{Silver Grape Scissors with Roses and Champagne Grapes} | previous post by me
Organizing Secrets from a Manhattan Design Guru Peri Wolfman | Peri is the writer of the book Forks Knives & Spoons and is now tableware designer for Restoration Hardware after she had been vice president for product development at Williams-Sonoma.
Less to Mess | interview with Design Guru Peri Wolfman from The New York Times, May 2013

{Our Dutch Atlas Zaanse Wall Clock in Oak}

• Maybe you already did see our Dutch Zaanse Wall Clock in my previous post about Our Dining Room. Link you find below this post. 
• It was a clock that I bought just before my wedding in 1972. 
• I recall that due to the gas being on coupons (gasoline distrubution due to limited availability because of an oil crisis), one jewelry store refused to deliver and hang it for us. 
• But this is what we ended up with, the oak version of a very stately Dutch Atlas Zaanse Wall Clock.

At the top you see 'ATLAS' bearing the heavens on his shoulders. He is standing on the metal bell that is being struck by a metal hammer every full and half hour.

When starting your clock, adjust the time and carefully wait for each stroke for half an hour and all hour!

You see the long chains attached to the pear–shaped gilt metal weights being hung up on the curled adornment underneath the wood.

Now tap the pendulum sidewards so that it will automatically move back and forth.

Pull up in time before the weights are down!

Detail showing ' ATLAS ' bearing the weight of the heavens... (click link for definition)

It is inscribed in Old Dutch: NU ELCK SYN SIN

NOW EACH GETS HIS WAY

The cast metal figures represent Faith, Hope and Charity.

The entire clock shows beautiful ornate brass design work.

The dial plate is mounted on black velvet.

Some describe the dial plate as being surrounded with four cherub angels but I'm not sure about that.

Anybody with more information about these ancient figures, please let me know!

This is where ours resides.

The pear shaped brass gilt metal weights need to be pulled up every 8 days.

The pendulum shows a rider on a horse.

They seem to have been made also in Rosewood as is shown here at a Christie's auction.

Christie's A DUTCH BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WALL CLOCK 'ZAANSE STOELKLOK'

CHRISTIE'S A DUTCH BRASS–MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WALL CLOCK "ZAANSE STOELKLOK"

Related links:
{Our Dutch Table Clock} | previous post by me
{Our Dining Room} | previous post by me

{Difference Between Coffee & Tea Cups}

Yesterday I did mention in my post that those chevrons, pointed at the particular cups in the end of my TV Interview's video, were wrong. So here I like to point out to you the visible differences between Coffee & Tea Cups. 

Sorry for the poor photos, because of the camera focusing in on the windows... I placed each time two cups on an oak tray, placed on a ceramic pedestal. LEFT you see a Coffee Cup and to the RIGHT is a Tea Cup!

• Coffee cups are more narrow and mostly straight up. Teacups are lower and wider and often tapered down. 
• The reason that teacups are wider at the top and more shallow is because a good tea is set with BOILING water. 
• The bigger surface lets your tea cool down faster, to a consumable temperature.

To the left I also placed a smaller spoon than to the right. These cups are German Seltmann Weiden Mirabel in white.  Spoons are Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Frontal view of Coffee Cup to the left and Tea Cup to the right.

Europeans brew their coffee a lot stronger than people here in the USA and or Canada.

We do use a dark French roast, that also makes the coffee darker but always mild and never bitter.

Nowadays the famous Dutch JACOBS DOUWE EGBERTS coffee, since 1753, is widely available in the USA as well.

These I do use as Coffee Cups; demitasse and regular size Coffee Cups. What is your guess? These are more tapered down.

This is WEDGWOOD CREAM COLOR ON CREAM COLOR (PLAIN EDGE). Even Replacements Ltd. does not specify the difference. It names the one to the left footed demitasse and the other footed cup & saucer.

Frontal view of the two cups & saucers.

This again is easier to judge. To the left is a demitasse for coffee and to the right a demitasse for tea. The French word Demi Tasse means Half Cup. This is ROSENTHAL SANSSOUCI ROSE-IVORY (GOLD TRIM).

Frontal view of the demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and demitasse Tea Cup to the right. For both I used the demitasse spoons from Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Again an easy to judge set. To the left is a demitasse Coffee Cup and a regular Coffee Cup and to the right is a regular Tea Cup in MASON'S MANDALAY-CHARTREUSE.

Frontal view of the demitasse Coffee Cup to the left, regular Coffee Cup center and regular Tea Cup to the right. I used a demitasse Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet spoon for the demi and regular spoons in gold plate for the coffee and tea cups.

Christie's Mandalay by Masons

This one is again easy to judge. A demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a demitasse Tea Cup to the right with regular spoons in gold plate. When I mean regular, it is NOT a regular American size spoon but a much smaller European size teaspoon. This is ROYAL ALBERT THE GARDENIA.

Frontal view of demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and demitasse Tea Cup to the right.

Again easy to guess: to the left a regular size Coffee Cup and to the right a regular size Tea Cup. Both with gold plated teaspoons. This is ROYAL ALBERT PRINCESS ANNE (BRUSHED GOLD EDGE).

Frontal view of regular size Coffee Cup to the left and regular size Tea Cup to the right.

Again somewhat difficult to analyze... The one to the left is called an After Dinner Cup and the one in the center a Coffee / Tea cup. The one to the right is named a Breakfast Cup...  Guess we can either pour coffee or tea in them! This is French GIEN ROSE.

Frontal view of those three cups... Here I used two demitasse spoons from ALVIN BRIDAL ROSE and to the right a five o'clock spoon.

Frontal stacked view and clear view of size difference.

Though these are not tapered down I presume that the one to the left is a Coffee Cup and to the right a Tea Cup. This is from POTTERIE DE DRIEHOEK in Huizen, The Netherlands. Spoons are demitasse and teaspoon by Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Frontal view of this Coffee Cup and Tea Cup.

Here we are facing our final set of in my opinion again a demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a regular Coffee Cup to the right. I used Alvin Bridal Rose demitasse spoons for both. This is ROYAL DOULTON ENGLISH ROSE.

One last frontal view of a demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a regular Coffee Cup to the right...

Now you also know what I am using when hosting a High Tea. We have quite a choice on china. Will show you photos from such a High Tea later. My idea is that more people are using Tea Cups than Coffee Cups. What is your take on that? You might be able to reflect on your own stock or maybe heirloom pieces that you got handed down.

Worldwide, it seems that numerous people look for the 'right' cup... 

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Related links:
{My Etiquette Training Interview with WGXA.TV (FOX24/ABC16)} | yesterday's post (from WGXA.TV) by me referring to the cup differences in video
So, What's This About Coffee "Cans," Reggie? | previous post from Blogger Reggie Darling with interesting facts
{Our last Datura Angel's Trumpets and TEA with a Twist} | previous post by me, showing also Japanese tea
Learn from Mariette | Classes used to being offered by Mariette's Back to Basics
The World in your Teacup | book by Lisa Boalt Richardson